Telangana phone tapping case snowballs into political slugfest; Congress, BJP say BRS got their phones tapped

Reacting for the first time to allegations that some officers of the SIB conducted illegal surveillance on opposition leaders, activists, and critics during the BRS regime, Rama Rao said to party workers, “I urge the CM to conduct a thorough investigation and take action if officials did anything illegal. The CM cannot touch even a single BRS leader because they are not involved in any illegal activities.”

Three former senior officers have been arrested so far, while look out circulars have been issued against two others, including the former SIB chief.

Leaders from the ruling Congress meanwhile demanded that the investigation be expanded to other districts. The Congress MLA from Mahbubnagar, Yennam Srinivas Reddy, claimed, “I have just now come to know that Congress leaders in the districts were also under surveillance during the BRS regime. I have written to the Director General of Police to expand the investigation to all districts besides Hyderabad.”

The BJP too waded into the controversy, with Telangana BJP chief G Kishan Reddy saying, “Not only political leaders; these officers, under the directions of the BRS, harassed businessmen and common citizens.”

Recalling an incident from April 2019 ahead of the general elections, he said it was only due to phone tapping that Hyderabad police came to know that the BJP had, officially and legally, withdrawn a large amount of cash from the party’s account.

“If not for phone tapping, the police would not have known that clerks and employees of the BJP office had gone to the bank to withdraw the money. As the money was being taken to the party office, several policemen intercepted the vehicle as if they were intercepting a team of hardcore terrorists, and seized the cash and detained our employees. Later, when the IT department gave a clean chit, Hyderabad Police apologised and returned the cash to us. If a national party is treated like this, we can understand how the BRS and the police officers working for them treated the common man,” Kishan Reddy said, demanding a judicial probe.

He also demanded an answer from the BRS leadership, including K Chandrashekar Rao, on whether or not his daughter and BRS MLC K Kavitha is involved in the Delhi liquor scam.

Officials at the Panjagutta police station, where the phone tapping case is registered, are seeking police custody of Additional Superintendents of Police N Bhujanga Rao and M Thirupatanna, who were arrested on Saturday. Deputy Commissioner of Police of West Zone, Hyderabad Police, S M Vijay Kumar said the investigation would pick up once they question the two.

Asked if reports that electronic surveillance equipment from Israel was purchased and imported by shell companies to be supplied to the SIB, the DCP said the police will share information when required. “We also want to question former SIB head T Prabhakar Rao, and (former DCP) P Radhakishan Rao, and we will follow the legal procedure,” the DCP said.